I think the problem with the retracts vs fixed comes down to the days one is not competing. It SPA is a sport fliers contest, and I am not talking quality of pilot. The planes flying in SPA are going to be weekend flyers 48-50 weekends a year. In reality it is a duel purpose plane; most dont want to build a plane that is going to sit in a corner until it is needed, so they want a plane that can cover all the bases. The guys who want retracts want them for the other days a year that they fly just as much as as contest day; they want to suck the gear up and make screaming passes at the home field on regular weekends, and the ones who dont want it to be simple day to day every day. The problem is you have to penalize one side or the other to make one of them happy or make 2 classes that co-exist.